BackHome
Refresh: OffView Personal Schedule
Session Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

Latvia in World War II: History, Memory and Conditionality

Fri, June 14, 10:45am to 12:15pm, William L. Harkness Hall (100 Wall St., Enter off of College St.), WLH, Room 120

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

The panel "Latvia in the World War II: History, Memory and Conditionality" is dedicated to the events of the World War II and the history of the Soviet and Nazi occupation (1939-1945), which affected Latvian wartime society and were among the most relevant in the spaces of contemporary collective memory. In Latvia, the volatile wartime reality of Soviet–Nazi–Soviet occupations nurtured a sense of anxiety and anomy in society. Some people explicitly obeyed a new totalitarian order and actively collaborated, but others deliberately acted against them. The will to obey or to challenge an occupation regime may reveal various and sometimes competing motifs (political and non-political), but it certainly illustrates the interplay of structural limitations and agency in specific situations. Looking from the perspective of individuals, collective groups and state institutions, the panel will analyze the relations of Latvian residents, among them collaboration and resistance with the Soviet Union and National Socialist Germany. At the same time, the presence of the hostilities of Nazi Germany and the USSR and the impact they left on the Latvian state and society will be evaluated, as well as a topic of questions about the history of the World War II of Latvia, which are reflected very differently in the academic research and historical communication of contemporary Central Eastern and Western European and other countries, will also be explained.

Short Bio

PhD Kārlis Dambītis, from 2006 to 2013 - historian of the Latvian War Museum, from 2013 historian of the Latvian Occupation Museum, from 2016 Assistant professor and Chief researcher at the Latvian Defense Academy. Teaches the courses of History of warfare and the Military history of Latvia. Author of several concept of expositions and exhibitions, compiled and was the scientific editor and author of forewords for books and topics about Latvian soldiers in the Soviet army (2016), Colonel Oskars Kalpaks (2018), Deportations (2021), Latvian military cartography (2021), and First World War military railways in Latvia (2022, 2024). In 2016, he defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Latvia on the topic "Artillery of the Latvian Army (1918-1940): structure, tasks and place in the Armed forces". Author of more than 30 scientific and popular publications and 30 presentations in national and international conferences in Latvia and abroad. Consultant in several film, research publications and military tourism projects. Main research interests - Latvian and world military history, Latvian army, the First and Second World Wars, the Latvian War of Independence and their consequences.

PhD Uldis Neiburgs, Senior researcher at the Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia; the Corresponding member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences; author and co-author of 2 monographs “Between Imminent Danger and Distant Hope. Latvia’s Resistance Movement and Western Allies, 1941-1945” (2017) and “Beyond these Gates the Ground Moans. Salaspils Camp, 1941-1944” (2016) and author of 2 popular-scientific books “In Flames of Sin and Hate! The Stories of the Second World War in Latvia” (2018) and “God, Your Land is Burning! The Stories of the Second World War in Latvia” (2014) (in Latvian); editor of 6 volumes of essays, author of 80 scientific publications and reviews and 200 popular-scientific publications in Latvian press; 50 presentations in international scientific conferences in Latvia and abroad; research interests: history of the World War II, resistance and collaboration during Soviet and Nazi occupation, social memory, public history.

PhD Kaspars Zellis, Senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia. Research interests in the fields of propaganda history, collective memory, and oral history. He is an author of several articles and a monograph on Nazi propaganda in occupied Latvia "Machinery of Illusion and Fear. Propaganda in Nazi Occupied Latvia: Regime, Media and Society (1941-1945)" (2011) and co-author of monograph “History of the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the University of Latvia during the Soviet period. Personalities, Structures, Ideas (1944-1991)” (2010) (in Latvian). He also studied the social and political history of the twentieth century, its manifestations in collective and individual memory.

PhD cand Jānis Tomaševskis, historian at the Latvian War Museum. Author of a monograph “Whispers of Independence: History of Latvian Provisional National Council” (2017) (in Latvian), 20 scientific articles and reviews, more than 30 popular publications; participant of more than 25 scientific conferences in Latvia and abroad. Research interests: Latvian military units in German and Soviet armed forces during World War II, collaboration and resistance to occupation regimes, changes in Latvia's cultural, historical, and industrial heritage caused by the World War II, the development of the idea of Latvia's independence and its continuity in the 20th century.

PhD cand Valdis Kuzmins, researcher at the National Defence Academy of Latvia. From 1996 to 2015 historian at the Latvian War Museum. Curator and co-curator of several exhibitions related to the World War II history. Research interests in the fields of Latvia's military history in the 20th century. Author of more than 30 scientific and popular publications. More than 50 presentations at the conferences in Latvia and abroad.

Sub Unit

Chair

Discussant

Individual Presentations